Mississippi Valley State takes out Nicholls State

“We thought we were a better team,” Nicholls State coach Cindy Piper said, “They just had better team chemistry than we did.”

The Lady Devilettes scored first when senior Amanda Blaede scored in the 19th minute.

The Lady Devilletes defense dominated the rest of the half, with senior goalkeeper Maria Del Guer-cio leading the way.

Nicholls’ keeper Molly Mer-sereau also made some key stops in the first half.Junior Pella Hand extended Mis-sissippi Valley State’s lead with a long shot in the 58th minute.

Two minutes later, Nicholls (1-8-1 overall) got on the board when sophomore Jessica Bedford scored on a penalty kick, making it 2-1.

Nicholls suffered some injuries in the second half when both Jes-sica Schwartz and Alicia Gautreau went down.

The game’s pace picked up to-ward the end, with three goals coming in the final 10 minutes.

“I was a lot more satisfied in the second half,” Mississippi Valley State coach Dean Joseph said, “I think they did a better job of doing the things we were asking at the half.”

The Lady Devilettes made the game 3-1 in the 82nd minute when Blaede scored her second goal of the game.

“We hadn't figured out how to make the adjustments at halftime,” Piper said, “We’re waiting until we’re behind the eight ball to get back into the game.”The Lady Colonels cut their defi-cit to 3-2 when sophomore Mi-chelle Branscome scored a goal in the 88th minute.

“In the second half we were all over the other team for a little while, putting a lot of pressure on them,” Piper said, “We finally had opportunities to score.”Nicholls’ Heather Gamble had an opportunity toward the end, but the Lady Colonels couldn’t take advan-tage of it.

Less than a minute after Branscome’s goal, Mersereau left the net unattended and Apolonia Kukla scored off an assist from Blaede.

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